The art direction of this game is drop-dead gorgeous, and that's what really carried me through the full experience. Anytime I was frustrated by the sorry excuse for ""combat"" or did a double jump that only put me like, one more foot above the ground than I was previously, I would look at the lavishly detailed background and persevere. I'd hate to imply that the art is the only thing going for this game, because there are occasional moments of sublime platforming brilliance, but those are so few and far between that the remainder of my time actually playing the game felt pretty flaccid.

The one and only mechanic that I absolutely adore here is Ori's bash which allows them to launch off of enemy projectiles to fly further into the air. This mechanic is amazing and could carry an entire game. This mechanic did in fact carry the entirety of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment so if you don't care for the art direction here just go play that instead.